I'm David Friedman, a professional photographer who sometimes gets ideas for photos, designs, gadgets, and other projects. I write about it all on this blog. You can find the meaning behind the name “Ironic Sans” back in the very first post.

Likely Media
When I'm not writing the blog, I make a living as a photographer and filmmaker. This is my business website.

Sunday MagazineAt this site, I republish the most interesting articles from the New York Times Sunday Magazine exactly 100 years ago each week, along with some commentary or context.

January 30, 2009

Coraline Box #40

I don’t want to encourage marketing people to send me stuff hoping I’ll write about it, but this is a particularly nice bit of marketing so I think it deserves a mention. It’s creative, and has a personal touch.

The team behind the upcoming movie Coraline has sent 50 handmade boxes featuring props from the movie to 50 different bloggers. I’m the recipient of Box #40, made from an old cigar box:

I admit, it was pretty cool to get the box and wonder what it contained. I won’t keep you in suspense:

It contains 3 headless dog bodies. Somebody else got the dog heads. It also contains one glittery halo, and still images from the movie scenes in which these objects appear. There is also this quote printed on a piece of paper: “She heard a shuffling noise, and a light came toward her, swinging from side to side. When it was closer she saw the light was coming from a flashlight being carried in the mouth of a large black Scottie dog, its muzzle gray with age.” -Chapt. IV

Not all 50 boxes have turned up yet, but NOTCOT has a pretty good roundup of those that have.

Hi david — glad you blogged this. Marketers or no. I was going to suggest you guest blog it at the International Animated Film Society Blog. They are are also collecting news of all the boxes as they appear. Hadn’t heard of Notcot before. Cheers

I’m seething with jealousy right now. I read the book when it came out, and it’s always stuck out as one of the best books from my teen years. The film is going to be nothing short of fantastic. Good job on snagging one of these up - I should have been more alert!